Case against DCW chief Swati Maliwal for ‘naming’ rape victim

Police on Tuesday registered a case against Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal for allegedly revealing the identity of the 14-year-old Dalit rape victim who died at a hospital here on Sunday.

A notice was sent by the Delhi Commission for Women to the SHO of Burari on July 22, in which Maliwal had mentioned name of the victim, said a senior police officer. “A case was registered against Maliwal for revealing the name of the Burari rape victim under Section 228(a) (disclosure of identity of the victim of certain offences) of IPC, at the Burari police station on a complaint by the concerned SHO,” said the officer.

Maliwal has been at the forefront of raising the plight of the victim and criticised Delhi Police for not arresting the accused. She had also visited the victim on the day the notice was issued by DCW to the SHO Burari. In December last year, an FIR was registered against the main accused Shiv Shankar, a neighbour of the victim, at Burari police station under Sections 363, 376 IPC and provisions of POCSO Act. He was arrested by the police on December 27.

However, the accused was given bail as the victim retracted her allegations against the accused before a magistrate. Meanwhile, police filed a chargesheet in the case in May, and a day before the victim was to give her statement in the court on May 16, she was again allegedly kidnapped from her house following which, another FIR was registered.

Later, it was alleged by the victim that she was kidnapped by the maternal aunt of the main accused and during confinement she was raped several times a day by Shivshankar.

Her hands and feet were tied and was refused any food during the period. The victim had also alleged that Shivshankar along with his maternal aunt and uncle had fed the girl a corrosive substance mixed in a soft drink. It was also mentioned in a complaint by the victim’s father in Burari police station on July 15.

Following the DCW notice to the Burari SHO, the accused was arrested by the police in the second FIR on July 22.